Night 64: M11-M20 Hallway

[age_of_kings]

It wasn't as though Tolten could ignore the (no longer just) implications. But regardless, there was work to be done. And while he felt miserable, he was certainly still very much himself now that night had fallen.

He was not about to allow this place to break him. He knew he was a rather soft and sometimes timid thing, given to strange fits of emotion and often questioning himself. But he also knew he was the last son of Uhra, blood of the ancient golden knights, containing all the strength of of his holy ancestors. He bent and bent but he would not break.

Fueled more by anger than anything else, the young king took up his pipe - he would give it to Locke, as he'd have a sword now - and headed into the hallway.

He didn't allow himself to consider the possibility of Locke not meeting with him tonight. The other man had never failed before, he certainly wouldn't now. And they would go to the Medical Wing and try and decipher the only clue they'd been given.

Failure was simply not an option.

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Comments

[baniichan]

He hadn't necessarily been referring to any attacks or ambushes, but Kotetsu looked a lot better than he had toward the end of their brunch together. That had to count for something, though Barnaby privately resolved to keep an eye on him tonight.

There was something off about Kotetsu's suggestion, though -- and, quite frankly, Barnaby didn't have any trouble coming up with a few reasons why. Maybe he wanted to mask any symptoms he was experiencing, or perhaps he wished to avoid the inevitable questions Barnaby had for him. The man had never been particularly difficult to read, even if Barnaby didn't always understand the deeper issues connected with his partner's behavior.

"I still have some things I want to talk to you about," he bluntly reminded him, "but I do agree with you. It could be a trap, or it could be a legitimate clue. Either way, I'd like to investigate it so we can learn more about what's going on here."

After checking over his flashlight and maps, he decided he was ready to go -- once he took care of one last thing, anyway. "By the way," Barnaby added as he reached out to grab something folded on his desk, "these are for you." With that, he extended some maps he'd copied from Anise's drawings during dinner. "Keep them in your pocket so you don't lose them."

[oyaji]

"Right, right, of course! There's always time for talk later." It was a terrible attempt at pacifism with absolutely no bias. He tried for neutrality, but even he knew he sounded more relieved and excited than he should have in the face of his thoroughly confused partner. Wild Tiger swore that he could make it up to the blond once they were done with their investigation and this illness or whatever it was had been alleviated! That wasn't too much to ask, right?

When Barnaby was ready to leave, the older man was about to step out of the room when he was handed pieces of paper. "What--Aww, Bunny, did you draw me someth--Oh..." No, it wasn't some cute picture of a crappy tiger and bunny frolicking together in an equally crappily drawn setting; it was just a few tracings of the institute's blueprints. After looking over it for several moments, Tiger did as he was told and put them into his right-hand pocket for safe-keeping.

"Okay, to the med wing!" Where ever that was. Had it been on his map? Well, it was too late to fret now! His feet were in motion and they told him to go this way.

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